fortune Favors the Boulder

By Ms Published on January 01, 2006.

In December, news came that Miami-based Crispin Porter + Bogusky would open an office in Boulder, Colo., and with it rumors of retirement, abandonment and the cautionary tale of Crispin's L.A. outpost, which closed in 2004. Here, ECD Alex Bogusky addresses the rumors and gives his reasons for the move.

Creativity Why Boulder?

Alex Bogusky I think because it's very different from Miami, and we wanted to give our people a choice, an option. In some ways it's completely opposite from Miami, and that's good. Also, the Boulder/Denver area didn't have an agency where we thought we would be stealing their home turf. We were just looking for options for people, places that were a different kind of town with a different lifestyle that's more affordable.

The genesis of the idea was with this last hurricane. When these things hit-I've gone through Andrew, and that was bad-when they're a category four or five, you've got to get the hell out of town. And you know they're coming. So with this last one, my wife and I started looking for places to go. New York was all sold out, so we were looking out west, and went to Boulder. I had always wanted to go there. I just started thinking it would be cool if we could make that an option for people. I had always seen myself at some point out west, and I feel like I'm nowhere near retiring. It seemed possible that we could pull it off. I brought the idea back to Miami, and we hatched a plan, so we're starting to execute it.

C Is the plan to keep Miami as a hub, or to have Boulder as its own autonomous unit?

AB It's not supposed to be autonomous at all. The notion is that it's one agency. The way that we put it to the shop is that we're growing and we need more space. We were thinking about moving to the second floor, and instead of taking space there, we took space in Boulder. The other thing the hurricane(s) taught us, which we kind of knew anyway, was how virtual we are. There was nobody here, there were 40 people in New York, 40 people in L.A., and 30 people in a hotel in north Miami, and we got more work out than ever. So our ability to do work together is not determined solely on location.

C How many people are going to Boulder?

AB We'll start with about 40 to 50 people. I've got lots of creative directors who will be staying here and lots that will be going to Boulder. The creative department will be split about 50/50.

C Will you join them?

AB Yes, this summer. I'll split my time in Miami, but my kids will go to school in Boulder. One of the considerations is that for all the time we spend in L.A. on production it would be nice to be closer. Throwing this bit of change out there fires the place up.

C The industry responded by passing along a lot of rumors. There were some rumors that the agency was leaving Miami.

AB There were also rumors that I'm retiring. We're not leaving Miami. Miami will never close. And the last thing I want to do is retire. I really love what I do. Just the thought of it makes me sad.